A Gratitude 🙏 Exercise

A Gratitude Exercise

This week is Thanksgiving here in the United States.

It is a wonderful opportunity to remember what and who we am grateful for.

Today, I am grateful that I have people that I love. I won't get to be with all of them this week but instead, I do a simple exercise.

✅First, close your eyes, become aware of your breath and just feel that for a minute.

✅Think of gratitude🙏-what are you grateful for and what does it mean to you.

✅Remember a time that you have been grateful in the past.

✅Breathe into that feeling, allow it to flow into your mind and your body.

✅Now, name each person that you have gratitude for, take your time, it can take a few minutes or more to do this.

✅Breathe this experience in and stay with that feeling for a few minutes.

✅When you feel finished, slowly open your eyes and look around the room.

You can write about your experience if you like, some people like to have a gratitude journal.

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I would love to hear what you experienced.💖

Tips for Reducing Stress

Being in a completely stress-free zone may be our desire, what is more realistic is for us to find a way to be in a better relationship with it so we don’t get completely overwhelmed 😩.

Since November I have been dealing with a lot of emergencies, illnesses and the death of family and friends! It has been so stressful and tough.:-(
And we suddenly lost our favorite kitty, our little love 😻, and we were heartbroken 💔and devastated.

During this time I have become aware of how I hold my breath way too much. When I feel frightened--I hold my breath. When I am upset--I hold my breath. When I am tired--I hold my breath. 😟

The crazy thing is that holding our breath creates even more tension and less blood circulation--not good!! And more stress :-(.😲

So I have had to return to engaging with basic mindfulness practices 🧘centered around conscious breathing and started using a few extra essential oils to support internal peace and relaxation.🙇‍♀️

When I do this, I have more ability and strength🏋️‍♀️ to go through my day.

And, I am always using the oils to change the biochemistry of my body and my mind-it is truly amazing.🌿

REDUCING STRESS TIPS:
➡Take a moment and sit down. Become aware of your breath. Just by becoming aware of it it will start to slow down and get into a more natural rhythm.

➡ Using essential oils relaxes the mind, the body, and the heart. My favorite oil for decreasing stress is clary sage. I rub it on my neck, chest, and my feet--I truly feel better within minutes.

🙏If you would like to learn more about breathing and using essential oils I am happy to set up a chat with you. Just PM me or comment here and I would love to connect.

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You don’t have to be alone, transform the pain into healing.

Trying to Avoid Emotional Pain?

Do you ever find yourself trying to avoid emotional pain?

We all have learned how to survive disappointments, traumas, as well as the everyday difficulties of life. Part of being human means we will know emotional pain at some point in our lives.

The goal is to be able to have a relationship with the difficulties--feel the pain as much as we can and still live a life that includes joy.

Have you ever found yourself eating too much, drinking too much, working too much, etc- to numb pain, or uncomfortable emotions?

THERE IS A BETTER WAY THAT WE CAN LIVE THAT WILL BRING MORE PURPOSE AND HAPPINESS.

Instead of “numbing” here are a few things to do:

**Acknowledge that we are numbing- this is the first step.

**Then we can watch how we are numbing- watch as if you were watching a movie...because this will raise your consciousness and once you are more conscious change can happen.

**You don’t have to be alone- it is good to share with people you feel safe with whether it is on social media, a friend who will listen, or a paid professional.

**By allowing yourself to recognize and feel the discomfort it will allow you to become more authentic and transform the pain into healing.

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You don’t have to be alone, transform the pain into healing.

Slow Down

Are you aware when you are overdoing and overcommitted?

One way of noticing is to be aware of your breath.

• Are you speeding up to get more accomplished?

• Or are you pausing and taking a few breaths?

Once you start to feel stressed it is really good to sit down and be aware of your breath or just be present with whatever it is that is going on.

The more you pause and slow down, the more relaxed your body, mind and spirit will be and the more effective whatever you engage with will be.

Slowing down feels good and it supports your immune system. And that will make your whole being happier and healthier.

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May you be blessed.

What are You Grateful For?

A Writing Exercise:
What are you GRATEFUL for?

When we take a moment to experience gratitude for something, it changes our brain in positive ways and that changes how we feel.

**Think of something no matter how small, that you are grateful for.

**Now feel it in your body, as best as you can.

**If you want, write something about this, what are you aware of and what happened when you did this simple exercise.

Today, I am grateful that I have some time to be creative. I don't usually take the time to bake or knit, which are two of my loves. Today I have the time. So I am grateful. As I feel that in my body, I actually feel a bit more relaxed and my heart feels more open, yah!

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What happened for you?

What? Me? You think I have needs?

Believe it or not, we all have needs. We have basic needs and more evolved needs:

We have the need to sleep🛌--this is really important. There is mixed research around all of this. Some of the research indicates that we need at least 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep; but seriously, I say, get as much as you can when you can get it since it affects our whole attitude🙃 and energy ⚡️.

We need to eat well; and I mean we need to eat a healthy diet. Lots of veggies 🥗, some protein, nuts, seeds and fruit🍏. It is best to eat organic foods that are fresh and very little processed food. This is best for the kids too.

We need to be creative 🎨, whether it is doing our mothering in a creative manner, making something 🧶, or expressing creative ideas at work 👩‍🎨or on a project. It doesn't need to be a grand scheme, start with something simple.

We need friends 👭and we need to take the time to talk with them and a girls night out once in a while is ideal.

And we need time to ourselves either going somewhere for a few hours, you know me, I love to wander 🚶‍♀️and meditate 🧘‍♀️. I also love to read a good book 📚, knit and binge-watch 📺 shows on Netflix.

And exercise 🏃‍♀️...so much to say about this.

This is just a beginning--truth is, we have needs as working parents and as people.

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What are the needs that you have that you are neglecting?